Cobden backman Paul Hinkley makes it into Victoria Country football representative squad

Aidan Fawkes3 Jun 2014, 4 a.m.

COBDEN star Paul Hinkley is the sole Hampden league player in the Victoria Country squad for its one-off representative match next month.

COBDEN star Paul Hinkley is the sole Hampden league player in the Victoria Country squad for its one-off representative match next month.

Victoria Country will take on a metropolitan representative side in the AFL Community Cup at Kardinia Park on July 12.

Hinkley, who kept Ovens and Murray coach Brendan Fevola to one goal a fortnight ago, is among 39 players from 11 leagues in the squad.

Former Terang Mortlake premiership player Xavier Moloney, now at Swan Hill, is also included. Former Hawthorn champion Peter Knights is the coach.

Goulburn Valley has the most representatives with nine, while Ovens and Murray has seven, including 11-goal hero Adam Prior.

Knights said he and his co-selectors had a tough time cutting the squad to 39 after watching interleague matches across the state on May 24.

“We had a member of our selection panel at each of the matches involving the top-10 leagues and also spoke with a number of parties to see if there was anyone from outside those games that warranted inclusion,” he said.

“When we first met last week we had more than 70 players who had been nominated as worthy inclusions and to reduce that to 39 was an extremely difficult task.”

AFL Victoria will later this week announce a second senior side and an under 19 side to take on the Victorian Amateur Football Association.